LIVE BROADCAST TONIGHT: Contemporary research of the Holocaust, Romani victims, and their public commemoration

The ROMEA organization in collaboration with the Prague Forum for Romani Histories of the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Contemporary History, the Museum of Romani Culture and the Romani Studies Seminar at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University is convening the third in its series of public debates on the occasion of the state purchasing the grounds of the pig farm at Lety u Písku that overlapped with the site of a former concentration camp. The panel discussion, called “Holocaust of the Roma: Contemporary Research in Czechoslovak Context” begins at 18:00 in a unique venue, Kampus Hybernská, a joint project of the City of Prague and the Faculty of Arts, Charles University.

The state buying out the grounds of the farm and handing them over to the Museum of Romani Culture will move historical research into the Holocaust and its Romani victims forward. Naturally this involves a very concrete level, as it will be possible, for example, to carry out the first-ever archaeological survey of the part of the former camp that was previously owned by the AGPI firm and had not been accessible to archaeologists before now, but it also involves research at a much more abstract, general level.

During this evening’s discussion we will hear information about what kind of projects are currently dedicated to researching the Holocaust and its Romani victims in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and what their future ambitions are. We will also ask what kind of character the public debate about the Holocaust and its Romani victims currently has.

Other questions we will review are what the limitations and the opportunities of such research are. Where are Romani people involved in this research?

The discussion is being held as part of the auxiliary program to an exhibition by the architect and artist Zdeněk Daniel, “My Black-and-White Shadows: Memento Mori“, which is currently on display at Kampus Hybernská until 29 May. Mr Daniel will also be present during the discussion and will be glad to give a guided tour of the exhibition after the discussion.